/**
Construct an object that will convert the names
to objects by looking up the databases.
*/
public List argsToList(String[] names) {
List l = null;
if(names == null || names.length < 1)
return(new List()); // currently necessary, but the expressions should handle null arguments.
int n = names.length;
l = new List(n);
for(int i = 0; i < n; i++)
l.addElement(new Name(names[i]));
return(l);
}